Chapter 18

The trio marched through the Cursed Woods under the unquestioned leadership of Fan-Min without any struggles against the wildlife or demons. They figured the combined power of them all was clear even to the lesser, unintelligent demons. They wanted nothing to do with them.

"Are we close?" Marina asked, sounding impatient. She was getting tired of following 'the arcane trail' since she herself couldn't sense it. For all she knew, the wizards were just leading her in circles.

"I believe so." Fan-Min said rather absently, like she really wasn't concerned whether or not Marina was patient or not. To Fan-Min, Marina meant very little.

"Where in the woods would someone hide a bunch of children?" Fan-Huang asked, mostly to the air.

Both the ladies just shrugged the question off with no real answer. They quested forward for another hour before Fan-Min stopped them in their tracks. "We're here." She said plainly.

Both Fan-Huang and Marina looked around questioningly. Where they were looked no different than the stretches of forest they had just marched through. And on top of that, there were no signs of any children around. Just trees and vines and dirt.

"Sorry, Sis." Fan-Huang said slowly, trying not to make his sister bite his head off. She hated being questioned or thought wrong. "I don't see any kids here."

She sighed with clear irritation. Fan-Huang couldn't see her eyes since her back was to him, but he assumed she had rolled them. "Just because they're not right in front of both your idiotic noses doesn't mean they're not here. Use your brains, morons."

"Save us the trouble." Marina said shortly. "Where are they?"

"Beneath us."

"How're they beneath us?" Fan-Huang asked. "Is there a cave or something?"

"First of all, I'm not a cartographer. How should I know if there's a cave here or not?" Fan-Min asked. "But they're beneath us."

"I wonder how we get down to them…" Fan-Huang pondered out loud.

Marina walked about the area until her senses led her to the base of an especially large and dead tree. She looked at it and the surrounding trees. They were all alive. So why would the biggest tree, with roots more able to gather water and branches more capable of reaching sunlight die before the rest?

As she examined the tree, she noticed a large hole at the base between two large, tangled roots. It was big enough to fit a body through and looked quite man-made. Immediately, she knew what they were dealing with. "The kids aren't in a cave. Not really." Marina explained.

"Where are they, then?" Fan-Huang asked walking up to the tree alongside the Demon Hunter.

"We're standing on a mass grave. And they're in it. Just below us."

Fan-Huang gasped. "They're dead?" He sounded mortified.

"No." Fan-Min said. "They're not dead. They're weak, but not dead. I can feel that much."

"So they're just in the grave?" He asked.

"Right." Fan-Min explained. "Against any normal person it'd be a very successful hiding place. But not when I'm after you." She beamed of pride.

"Why's this grave here?" Fan-Huang questioned.

"They're all over the place." Marina explained. "The people of Tristram and New Tristram and the whole surrounding region are constantly under assault by wild creatures tainted by the evil of Hell and demons in the flesh. Even their own dead have come back to assault them. People are dying like flies. The graveyards just ran full, plus with the dead rising again, it just made more sense to dispose of the bodies quickly and far away from the village." She fell silent for a few seconds. "So they'd gather large groups and come out and dump the bodies into huge holes. It was the best they could do. This must just be another one of those."

"How do we get in?" Fan-Min asked sounding a bit annoyed. "You don't expect me to dig through the dirt, do you?"

"As much as I'd love to see that…" Marina started, bringing a fierce scowl out of Fan-Min. "That won't be necessary. See this large hole in the tree? It's pretty much a door. I have a rope, so we can just climb down."

"Honestly, that doesn't sound much better." She complained.

"You could wait up here." Fan-Huang suggested, trying to comfort his sister.

She laughed out loud. "Right." She laughed some more. "And leave you to fight off whatever's with those kids?" She placed her tiny hand on her brother's shoulder. "I wish that was an option." She looked with genuine laughter in her eyes into her brother's blues. "But you and I both know that's not an option."

Reluctantly, she approached the hole next to Marina. "Ready?" The Demon Hunter asked. Fan-Min nodded. With that, Marina tossed the rope down into the black hole and climbed down. The wizards watched as she faded into the darkness.

"I can go first." Fan-Huang offered.

His sister psh'd at the suggestion. "Please. I'm your sister." She smirked. "Don't try to act tough in front of me. I know you." Fan-Huang just shrugged and let his sister descend first.

Climbing down the rope actually proved to be difficult for both of the wizards. It really wasn't a part of their Yshari Sanctum education. Fan-Huang couldn't help but figure that Kazur would probably have shimmied down without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately, he and his sister were built nothing like the large man.

The mass grave was dark, save the torch that Marina was holding up and the very small amount of light that seeped through the hole they had climbed down through. The floor was squishy and hard to balance on. Confused, Fan-Huang looked down and became all too aware of why. They were standing on piles of decomposing bodies. Men, women, and children. They looked like they had died at different times from different things, but were all decaying together. The realization and smell about made the young wizard gag.

"Where'd you get the light?" Fan-Min asked.

"I may not be a legitimate blood-born Demon Hunter, but I'm still equipped for all situations." As she held the light in the air, illuminating much of the stinking pit, they realized there was a small hole leading to another area. "I'm guessing that way."

Together, they crossed the squishy corpse floor and made their way quietly into the other alcove. As they approached through the darkness, they could hear eerie singing. Fan-Min knew this was what they were looking for. "He's here."

"But that doesn't sound like Avator." Fan-Huang added.

"Avator?" Marina asked.

"We'll explain later." Fan-Min responded quietly. "For now, let's save the kids."

The room entered into was clearly what they were looking for. In it were the children from the village, probably about 20 total, and they were floating hauntingly just several inches above the ground with their eyes closed, as if they were in comas. Each one of them gave off a faint glow, like the dying flame on a melted down candle. The whole scene was enough to chill the group to their bones.

In front of the mass of children was the source of the singing. A small Dark Fairy fluttered at the far end of the room with obvious evil intent. As he was singing, each light from each child broke, just a small segment off, like a cell breaking into two, and floated toward the Dark Fairy, who had a Soul Crystal resting before him. Each broken segment of the children's lights floated into the crystal and caused the Soul Crystal to glow.

"Stop it!" Fan-Huang shouted as he ran toward the fairy through the floating children. He wasn't sure what the Dark Fairy was doing, but he could tell by instinct that it was no good.

The Dark Fairy stopped his singing and immediately the glowing stopped and the children all fell to the ground with a cacophony of thuds. "Wizard." The Fairy hissed.

"And who are you?" Fan-Min asked arrogantly, not seeming the least bit concerned about the enemy beyond understanding who he was. "I was hoping to find Avator here so I could end his pathetic existence."

"There is nothing pathetic about my lord." The Dark Fairy responded, obviously offended. "He's powerful and great!"

"And who are you to call him lord?" She asked.

"I'm his humble servant and friend, Rin."

"Rin." Fan-Min spat the name. "You're going to wish your mother had never spawned you."

"I killed my mother."

"And now you're going to die" She threatened.

"I don't think so." He giggled as a dark purple aura began to glow about him. It traveled through the dark room and settled into various locations in the walls. "I'm not alone, you know."

At that moment, terrifying specters flew out from the walls. They didn't look like the ghosts of humans. Their bodies were nothing more than what looked to be the equivalent to torn up robes. Their faces were that of skulls, but it looked as if someone had grabbed the bottom jaw and pulled so hard the skull actually stretched as if it was made from jelly. Each specter's hands were terrifying and sharp scythe-like blades. Nothing about these ghosts looked friendly.

"Is that all you've got?" Fan-Min taunted as the evil spirits descended on them like horrifying vultures to a fresh kill. "Ready yourselves." She ordered her comrades.

The room exploded into an adrenaline-fueled flurry of spells, dodges, and flying bolts as the sounds of haunting screams and war-cries echoed through the dark underground chamber. Fan-Min was glad that she wasn't Marina. Bolts wouldn't do much good against ghosts, unless if she had enchanted bolts, which any Demon Hunter worth his weight would. However, Arcane Energy was especially useful against the spirits. Fighting off the hordes of specters was simple. She ducked and weaved as she blasted Arcane Orbs and Bolts at the various flying monsters. Their scythe-hands came close at many points to slashing her open, but no more close than she allowed just so she could get her best shot in.

Seeing that his ghastly goons were being picked off like a wizard's target practice, Rin grabbed the Soul Crystal and fluttered up in an attempt to escape. This didn't go unnoticed by the one particularly powerful Renegade Wizard. She bolted across the room as fast as he short legs would carry her, disregarding any concern for the children. She kicked and stepped on many of their slumbering bodies to get to Rin. She was just about to get within range when she heard the dramatic scream of her older brother. She glanced his way. He was on the ground and surrounded by four specters. There was no way he was going to save himself. She knew if she didn't act he'd be dead. Marina had her own problems to deal with. On the other hand, if she helped Fan-Huang, she knew Rin would get away with the Soul Crystal. The decision was harder than she'd ever admit openly, but she shot one final glare at the Dark Fairy, and turned to save her hopeless brother.

She flew across the room in record time and unleashed her powerful spell, Disintegrate. Fan-Huang recognized it immediately and brought himself as low to the ground as he could. Marina, having taken quick notice of the male wizard's frightened reaction and the power-hungry expression on the female wizard's face also threw herself to the ground. Fan-Min let the destructive beam of arcane energy pummel the room unhindered, whipping herself back and forth to ensure she spotted and annihilated every last ghost.

She allowed the beam to tear into the walls and burn through any tree roots exposed under the dirt. Finally, her brother lunged up and hugged her tightly. "Stop, Fan-Min!" He shouted. "You got them all." She just glared at him and continued to let the beam devour the wall opposite them. "If you continue you'll bring the entire roof in on us!"

"Maybe I should!" She shouted, angry eyes digging into her brother's. She finally stopped her spell and shoved her brother hard. "I had him!" She screamed before she stomped over to him and smacked him. Then she smacked him again. And again. "I HAD HIM!" She screamed all the louder. She could see tears swelling up in her brother's eyes, tears of guilt and regret. She could feel tears in her own eyes. Different ones, though. Tears of anger. She smacked Fan-Huang again and again. Finally, Marina ran up behind her and pulled her off of her brother, but not before she screamed again. "I HAD HIM!"

"I'm sorry." Fan-Huang said quietly, through broken words. "I'm sorry."

Fan-Min huffed as she shook Marina off of her. "I knew I shouldn't have brought you."

"Calm down, Fan-Min." Marina said through shocked and concerned eyes. "We'll get him."

Fan-Min stomped hatefully up to Marina, her nose would have been so close it would have touched Marina's if she wasn't so short, and she glared fiercely into her eyes, a dreadful fire burning in them. "You!" She seethed. "Stay out of this."

Marina went over to Fan-Huang and helped him off the ground with a sympathetic frown. "Let me check those wounds." He accepted her help off the ground, but brushed off her offer for a check-up.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

"Is she always like that?"

"More often than you'd care to see." He laughed humorlessly. "She's very…" He didn't know the right words. "Determined."

"I'd say so."

"Anyway…" He said trying to suppress the emotional pain he was in. It never felt good having his only family around act out so hatefully toward him. Like he was less than useless. Like he was a hindrance. Which, in reality, he knew he was to some degree. But he had to believe there was something good about him too. That's what Kazur had always assured him. He couldn't hold it back any longer. He began to cry. He was so sick of being away from home. Away from Kazur. He loved his sister, but he couldn't bear her alone all the time. He needed someone to help him. He wondered where Kazur was.

"What's wrong?" Marina asked awkwardly, not really that good with emotional stuff.

"I'm fine." Fan-Huang insisted as he watched his sister head back to the main section of the grave, presumably to climb back out. "Let's just get these children home."

"Up a rope?"

"It won't be easy?" Fan-Huang questioned jokingly.

"We'll just have to tie it around them and pull them up one-by-one."

"Agreed."

With that, they got to work. It took hours, but they got it done, and Fan-Min was able to silently lead them back to New Tristram through the Cursed Woods with her arcane abilities.